Queer-ish

Queer-ish Part 2: Nicole

Being the new kid wasn't easy, Nicole knew that from experience. Having switched all too many schools in a lifetime, she really did know what that was like, but growing older made it worse. She wanted to fit in, be popular, be 'cool', whatever definition that word served at a the moment, but it didn't help when all the nicest people were the 'weirdest'. That day she met Emma was the first day of the rest of high school and she half wished Allen had come up to her instead so she could have an in into the world of popularity, but half of her knew that Emma and her group of 'weird queer kids' would care for her more than Morgan, Cathy or Allen ever would. It still wasn't comforting because, no matter how well-liked some of the people in that group were, being seen with them gave her a negative, at least in her eyes, reputation. She loved them but felt as if she was outgrowing them, they were just a filler group for her recent arrival, a way to get back on her feet at this new school. 

She tried her best to distance herself from them after a few months of being friends and finally being acquainted with one Cathy Carters, a beautifully ditzy popular kid, exactly the out she was looking for. She loved everything Pink, the brand not the color, and Urban Outfitters. She always had lacquer nails and curled hair. Perfect makeup adorned on her face, skirts so short you could almost see her Victoria's Secret underwear. Her heels made her taller than most boys at school, excluding Isaac who was two inches taller. Nicole would find herself staring at her, whether in admiration or lust, she wasn't sure. Cathy never caught her, probably because of the fact that she was so absorbed in herself that she never wore glasses or contacts to school even though she needed them badly. Nicole had tried only once in the four months she'd been at school to talk to her. Due to her current status as a freak queer kid, she didn't intend on starting at the top. First, she had to start with Isaac. 

Isaac and Nicole were friends, but not great ones. She was new, he was relatively popular, things like that didn't mix here. He was the only really popular one whereas Emma and Alex just belonged to a lot of groups and many people really liked them. Caleb was friends with a good amount of people, too, but usually in small groups or just kind of like a fake friendship type thing. However, with Nicole she always seems to get put with the wrong people at the wrong times, but it seemed luck was really on her side with Isaac being in the same group as her. She had begun to cling to him and ask to hang out, becoming infatuated with him and the prospect of being popular. Even recently, the rest of the group had seen her snapping at them or being sweet until someone like Morgan or Kyler came along when she would be rude and walk away which concerned the group as a whole, especially Emma who was too sensitive for her own good. 

The group had worried about this exact thing, though. From that first day where Emma asked her if she was okay and needed somewhere to sit at lunch. Emma was too nice and did that for all the new kid, but Nicole really needed it, she needed them but she didn't know that yet. Before Nicole was more or less indoctrinated into the group, Alex and Skyler had protested, knowing full-well that being the new kid and belonging to the queer group wouldn't give her the best rep in the school. Emma, as per usual, had insisted upon her acceptance and would be one of the ones most hurt by Nicole's leaving them. 

Throughout the time that Nicole had been at school with her, she'd become absolutely head-over-heels for Cathy Carters, unbeknownst to her but known to her group of former friends. Emma would sometimes come up to her and ask her how her day was and Nicole would reply, being friendly until Allen walked by in which she would attempt to create a scene in which Emma was bothering her and she had to leave and it broke poor Emma's heart. "I don't really know what I did to her, honestly. She's just been so cold to me, Al," Emma said, rubbing her eye. "It also doesn't help that there's been something in my eye all damn day. It always makes me look like I'm crying." Alex placed their hand on her shoulder, trying their best not to say 'I told you so', knowing full-well that Emma'd get a good dose of that when they saw Skyler at lunch, where Nicole would be sitting with Cathy and Allen instead of in-between Emma and Isaac. 

"Emma I told you she'd leave us. She had it written all over her," Skyler said, fiddling with his green pronoun bracelet that meant male pronouns. Emma rolled her eyes and was about to say something before Nicole was suddenly walking towards them with a smile on her face. However, she walked straight over to Isaac, ignoring Emma and Andrew's hello and placed a hand on Isaac's bicep. "Hey, Isaac, I'm having a birthday party. It's going to be awesome, I hope to see you there," and then strutted back to where she came from, smiling maliciously. Emma sat down on one of the not-yet put away chairs from lunch, Penelope resting a hand on her shoulder. "Em it's okay, if she isn't going to talk to us then she isn't worth our time. Especially yours," Alex said to which Emma replied with a curt nod, staring at the wall spaced out like she sometimes did. Skyler opened his mouth to say something but Alex elbowed him. "Leave her alone," they turned to Sam. "You too, don't bring any of it up." Skyler for once backed off and shut his excessively-used pie hole and Sam said nothing in return to Alex's comment. 

"So are you going to the party," Caleb asked Isaac in P.E, the class that no one but them and Andrew had. Isaac shrugged, bending down to tie his shoe. "I guess I'll go, a lot of my other friends are going." Caleb nudged him, "But Jessica is, too," Isaac stood back up, brushing off his knee to rid himself of excess track bits. "That's fair but I'm not going to not have fun just because she's there."  Caleb shrugged, "Just look after Nic, I think she might get into some trouble over there."

And boy, was he right.